Me, waiting to work with NOAA researchers! |
Working with Michael Black was awesome! He was really interesting and had a lot to tell us. Micheal has been working with NOAA in the hurricane research division for 21 years. We gained so much information about the hurricane planes, dropsondes, and satellites they use to forecast the storms that we are all now hurricane experts!
The first thing he told us today was about how they use the P-3 hurricane hunter planes, which he flies in to study the hurricanes. The pictures that were taken from the aircraft were spectacular, especially the ones taken inside the eye. The coolest thing I learned today was about mesocyclones. I thought it was amazing that tornadoes form inside a hurricane and can possibly strengthen the storm. The pictures of the cyclones were awesome.
After that we set in on a “map discussion” where about 14 scientists look at satellite images and talk about what they think will happen to certain storms. |
Later we tried on the flight suits that they wear on the P-3. It was too big on me and we got some funny pictures because the legs bunched up around my ankles and the sleeves covered my hands. These flight suits are fire proof, just in case of an accident. They also keep the people wearing them warm, and have lots of pockets to keep things in. The plane also has survival suits if the crew has to bail out. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to try one of those on.
After trying on the flight suit, we sat in on a “map discussion” where about 14 scientists look at satellite images and talk about what they think will happen with certain storms. I thought
These flight suits are fire proof, just in case of an accident. They also keep the people wearing them warm, and have lots of pockets to keep things in. |
it was so cool to listen to the scientists debate about what they thought a storm would do. Michael also worked with us on how they use satellites to forecast hurricanes.
I thought it was so cool to listen to the scientists debate about what they thought the storm would do. Jason also worked with us on how they use satellites to forecast hurricanes. |
Finally, we got to try and forecast a storm that the Air Force was flying into at that moment. We looked at several different satellite images and we decided that it was a tropical disturbance, but almost a tropical depression. A couple hours later the National Hurricane Center report came in saying the same thing that we said! I thought it was cool that we were able to forecast a storm correctly.
All in all, today was a great day. All of the technology really helped us understand storms. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot. Working with him has made me really interested in hurricane research. Michael Black is one of the top hurricane researchers in the world, and I really enjoyed working with him.